Letter carrier still on payroll

WEYMOUTH — A letter carrier who was driving an SUV stuffed full of thousands of pieces of undelivered mail is still on the payroll though she is not handling mail, officials said.

Megan Hawes, 29, was stopped on Park Avenue by Weymouth police on March 30 because the car she was driving was uninsured and had an expired registration. The car was towed, but when no one came to retrieve the car after more than a month, the owner of Central Towing in South Weymouth opened the SUV on Thursday looking for clues to help him get the car back to its owner.

That’s when Bruce Hanson found a Postal Service employee placard and a dozens of opened greeting cards all addressed to different people. Hidden beneath a blanket in the back of the SUV, he discovered hundreds of bundles of unopened mail, along with several Amazon packages that had been ripped open.

Most of the undelivered mail found in the car was addressed to residences in Roslindale, the city where Hawes has worked as a letter carrier since September.

Stephen Doherty, USPS spokesman, said no charges have been filed against Hawes, but said the United States Postal Inspection Service was investigating the incident.

“The employee is still on the rolls, but not currently interacting with mail,” he said. “Privacy laws don’t allow me to say more than that.”